their ruin was now inevitable;
and they renewed with redoubled zeal their former confederacies against
him. The earl of Lancaster was a dangerous head of this alliance; Guy,
earl of Warwick, entered into it with a furious and precipitate passion;
Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford, the constable, and Aymer de Valence,
earl of Pembroke, brought to it a great accession of power and interest;
even Earl Warrenne deserted the royal cause, which he had hitherto
supported, and was induced to embrace the side of the confederates;[**]
and as Robert de Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury, professed
himself of the same party, he determined the body of the clergy, and
consequently the people, to declare against the king and his minion. So
predominant at that time was the power of the great nobility, that the
combination of a few of them was always able to shake the throne; and
such a universal concurrence became irresistible. The earl of Lancaster
suddenly raised an army, and marched to York, where he found the king
already removed to Newcastle:[***] he flew thither in pursuit of him,
and Edward had just time to escape to Tinmouth, where he embarked,
and sailed with Gavaston to Scarborough. He left his favorite in that
fortress, which, had it been properly supplied with provisions, was
deemed impregnable, and he marched forward to York, in hopes of raising
an army which might be able to support him against his enemies.

* Brady's App. No. 53. Walsing. p. 98.

** Trivet, Cont. p. 4.

*** Walsing. p. 101.

Pembroke was sent by the confederates to besiege the Castle of
Scarborough, and Gavaston, sensible of the bad condition of his
garrison, was obliged to capitulate, and to surrender himself
prisoner.[*] He stipulated that he should remain in Pembroke's hands for
two months; that endeavors should, during that time, be mutually used
for a general accommodation; that if the terms proposed by the barons
were not accepted, the castle should be restored to him in the same
condition as when he surrendered it; and that the earl of Pembroke
and Henry Piercy should, by contract, pledge all their lands for the
fulfilling of these conditions.[**] Pembroke, now master of the person
of this public enemy, conducted him to the Castle of Dedington, near
Banbury, where, on pretence of other business, he left him, protected
by a feeble guard.[***] Warwick, probably in concert with Pembroke,
attacked the castle: the garrison refused t